"Hi! Liz Hemmings, Luke's mother?"
Liz introduces herself in a hurry as she walks across the deep pile pale gray carpet of Michael's office and starts unpacking a large hold-all she's brought with her. It's taken most of the morning to compose herself after seeing Luke earlier at school before packing his stuff and finding out where Michael works.
"Okay! So, his clothes... sketchpad... shoes... underwear... oh! The Yellow Submarine, it's his favourite, he's watched it a million times, do you know he wanted to be an animator?"
"No...I..." Michael shakes his head. He's slightly stunned at being interrupted with no warning. Where is Maggie and why has she let this woman in here?
"No. You wouldn't." Liz cuts him short before rummaging in her handbag. "Here, a cheque."
"For what?" Michael's forehead is furrowed like never before and he stands up, suddenly realising that this woman, who has to be Luke's Mum because the likeness is uncanny, is actually fucking serious.
"Well, Luke's expensive. He's like a football player, he goes through clothes faster than I can buy them. And he's always needing something for school..."
"You think he's staying with me?" Michael asks as she puts the check down on the desk in front of him.
"Where else?" She demands. This man got her son into this mess, he can help clean it up.
"I don't know, but he's not moving into my place." Michael picks the cheque up and deposits it in Liz's handbag.
"Well," She says determindly, getting it out and placing it on the desk in front of him again. "He's going to have to live somewhere since he told me he's never coming home again."
Michael looks her straight in the eye, getting steadily more angry and more panicked inside, "Why do you care what he says? You're his mother, come and get him."
Liz explains with the patience of a barely-holding-it-together-mother, "If I came and got him he would just run away and I might never see him again. Do you know what happens to run away kids Mr Clifford?"
"They end up on milk cartons."
"Or worse. At least with you I know where he is." Looking sternly at this man, to whom she already seems to have lost her son, Liz turns and walks away.
"He's not my responsibility!" Michael exclaims behind her, throwing the things she's brought back into the bag.
"Oh yes he is!" Liz marches back to confront him. "You seduced him! You..,fucked him! So now he's yours! Just, please, see that he takes his allergy medicine. And does his homework and gets to school on time."
"And...and tell him that we love him?" She asks, turning by the door. This is never the way she envisaged Luke leaving home and it's breaking her heart to dump his stuff here and confront this man but better that than the alternative of maybe never seeing him again.
~~~
"Hi Bob!" Calum interrupts his boss singing Italian opera by the sounds of it, whilst stock checking pallets of goods. "You sound great!"
"Oh! Thanks. Didn't realise I had an audience!"
"You should have been an opera singer..."
"I wanted to be one once but I had to make a choice, the Opera House or KMart."
"Well, obviously it's paying off, congratulations on the promotion."
"Thanks. District manager, big responsibility."
"Have you picked your replacement yet?" Calum asks, walking by his side as they make their way back into the front of store.
"No, couple of people have expressed some interest you know?"
YOU ARE READING
Queer as Muke
أدب الهواة"The thing you need to know is, it's all about sex. It's true. In fact they say men think about sex every twenty-eight seconds. Of course that's straight men. With gay men it's every nine." Twenty nine year old advertising executive Michael Cliffor...
